1 Bridge Street, Chester, is located at the junction of Bridge Street and Eastgate Street at
Chester Cross in the centre of the city of
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. Its architecture is that of the
black-and-white revival
The Black-and-white Revival was an architectural movement from the middle of the 19th century that re-used the vernacular elements of the past, using timber framing. The wooden framing is painted black and the panels between the frames are p ...
, it incorporates part of the
Chester Rows
Chester Rows are a set of structures in each of the four main streets of Chester, in the United Kingdom, consisting of a series of covered walkways on the first floor behind which are entrances to shops and other premises. At street level is ...
, and is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...
as a designated Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Because of its prominent position and its black-and-white architecture, the historian Simon Ward has described it as an "iconic" building.
History
The building was designed by
Thomas Lockwood, and built in 1888 for the
1st Duke of Westminster
Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, (13 October 1825 – 22 December 1899), styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845, Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869, and known as The Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an ...
,
although by 1889 it was owned by Chester City Council.
[ The building is now occupied by shops. The citation in the ''National Heritage List'' describes the building as "the best liked of T. M. Lockwood's buildings in Chester, well executed in his most flamboyant style".][
]
Architecture
The building is in four storeys, including an undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...
, whose floor is below street level, and an attic. It extends for one bay down Bridge Street and for one bay along Eastgate Street. At its corner is a flight of seven steps leading from the street to the row level above which is an octagonal turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
. Above the steps is a canted
Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to:
Language
* Cant (language), a secret language
* Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers
* Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers
* Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...
, mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
ed and transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
ed, oriel window
An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...
. Over this are three pargetted panels under a four-light canted casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...
. The roof is curved and surmounted by a weather vane
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
.[
On each side of the steps at street level are modern shop fronts. Above these, at the front of the Rows, are ]balustrades
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
behind which are sloping stall boards, then the walkway and shop fronts. On Bridge Street at the third storey level are decorative panels and a three-light window. Above this is a gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d dormer
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
with more panels and another three-light window. On Eastgate Street at the third storey is a six-light window with panels above and below. There is again a dormer with panels, one of which includes the arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
of the Grosvenor family.[
]
See also
*Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire
The county of Cheshire is divided into four unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Warrington, and Halton.
As there are 390 Grade II* listed buildings in the county, they have been split into separate lists for each un ...
*List of works by Thomas Lockwood
Thomas Meakin Lockwood (1830–1900) was an English architect whose main works are in and around Chester, Cheshire. He was born in London, and brought up in East Anglia. He trained in Chester with Thomas Mainwaring Penson, T. M. Pens ...
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Grade II* listed buildings in Chester
Commercial buildings completed in 1888
Shops in Chester
1 Bridge Street
Timber framed buildings in Cheshire
Grade II* listed retail buildings